Electrified

The autumn winds have blown up a flurry of activity in the train room over the past two weeks.

I started by putting away the semi-scale roster. Based on operation, I did some troubleshooting with the whistle on the NP 0-6-0. I confirmed that, once again, there needs to be other power draws on the track for the sound to work properly. For example, a passenger car with consistent lighting, or a street lamp that is tied to the track power. Modern trains controlled by modern transformers require this.
Next I tested the Electroliner successfully. I opened up the front car to re-affix the internal window frames. In doing so, the new wires I installed last month were disconnected. I used Gorilla Glue to affix two long frames and one short frame, and left them to adhere overnight.

I also tested the CSS Interurban set and confirmed that the cowcatcher on the lead unit contacts the track occasionally when running forward. This results in lots of sparks and sometimes a derailment. So I manually bent the cowcatcher about 1/8" and tested it again. The train now runs properly.
Continuing on the Electroliner, I installed longer lead wires on the front motor connection. I noted that two other wires were disconnected, and through additional testing I came to believe that these had been disconnected for years. I reattached another window frame to the front unit.

Taking a break from repair work, I researched existing and potential "long" locomotives that will run on the future train layout to determine minimum operational track radii. I adjusted the master layout planning diagrams to support a minimum radius track of O-54 (for the Electronliner, shays, hudsons, and northerns). Two locomotives yet to be purchased (the Little Joe and Z-6) have a minimum radius of O-72, so they will be unable to run on some of the loops. The three longest loops will be able to support very large radius track, and I'm experimenting with O-81, O-90, O-99 and O-108 radii to see what will fit into the plan. As of now, the plan is to have two O-54 loops, three O-63 loops, three O-72 loops, and three to-be-determined large-radius loops.

I re-soldered the connections on the Electroliner, but after several attempts found that this was causing a short.

I inventoried several cabeese while pondering the electrical issues on the Electroliner.

I reversed the wires coming from the power pickups on the lead car of the Electroliner. This resolved the electrical shorts, and provided extra power for the train. It appears that both sets of wires in this car were wired backwards from the factory. This car, numbered 802, is the lead unit on the train, and is identical to the trailing car, number 801, in all but two ways: 801 has red marker lights, signifying it is at the rear of the train, and 801 has a male electrical connection to the next car. Car 802 is the only car in the 4-unit train that has a female electrical connection, and it seems this was originally installed backwards, although this is not apparent by looking at the wire colors, which are in line with the appropriate wires in the next car. I reattached additional window frames on 3 cars of the Electroliner after resolving the electrical issues.

I disassembled and lubricated PW Lionel locomotive #2037, which has not run on my layout before. There was a rusty staple stuck in one of the gears under the shell, which I removed. The roller pickups were retracted, so I placed them in active position, and tested the locomotive successfully. It is fully functional - forward-neutral-reverse, whistle, and smoke. 2037's were produced for a number of years throughout the Post-War period. A pink version of this locomotive came with the 1957-1958 Girl's Set, and is quite rare. My engine is unique in that it is missing the decorative bell, but I don't think this makes it more valuable :)

I proceeded to clean up all the tools used for repair work, and set up the new all-electric roster. I opened up the powered CSS Interurban car in order to replace the 9V battery (to provide continuous sound effects), but could not find a battery or battery clip inside. Upon further research, I found that there is no clip for a battery, even though one is mentioned in the instructions. (Oh well.)

Anyway, the roster now consists of:
Track 1 - Trolley
Track 2 - CTA L Cars
Track 3 - CSS Interurbans
Track 4 - Electroliner

Everything runs very smoothly except for the trolley, which has problems running over the 45-degree cross track on Track 1. The Bowser trolleys only have one power pickup, which explains why it has difficulties with cross tracks. To resolve this, I could perform some electrical modifications to the track, but I'm not going to. I'll just have to run the trolley at a consistent 40-scale-mph, which is generally fast enough for it to jump over the dead spot in the cross track without shutting off or cycling into neutral. The layout of the future will have zero cross tracks and only a few switch tracks on main loops, because I just don't want to deal with them. In the meantime, commuters on Track 1 will be quite dizzy, but they'll get to their destinations really fast!

All in all it's been a great two weeks of progress in the train room, from repairs to roster changes and more! Keep those rails shiny~

Lionel PW NYC 6464-125 boxcar

K-Line Kingan's reefer car

Electroliner window frames

First window frame in place on Electroliner

Cowcatcher repaired on CSS Interurban

2037 prior to repair

MRL locomotives in Laurel, MT

All-electric roster

Mid September already

Hello folks,
My plans to start some repair work got side tracked, but that's ok. This weekend I'll be attending a train event, and I'll be taking some trains with me! Next week I'll report on the details. Keep those rails shiny ~

Little trains and the Night of the Rolling Frankencoach

There was some nice activity in the train room this week!

I started by reattaching a brake wheel on the new MTH Great Northern caboose. I think it separated during shipping, and some super glue fixed it right up. Over the weekend, I took down the F-unit roster and set up the new semi-scale roster. In the process, I inventoried 36 items. It's the first time running in Montana for most of these semi-scale cars. By "semi-scale", I mean that the engines/rolling stock are smaller than O-scale. Semi-scale cars are typically shortened models designed to decrease cost and allow them to run on smaller radius track (O-27). I began modeling with all O-27 equipment, so this was a fun nostalgic experiment, getting to play with these smaller cars again.

Now, just because a model train car is short does not mean that it isn't O-scale. O-scale, by my definition, simply means that the model is really really close to 1:48 proportions (1 inch on the model equals 48 inches on the real-life prototype). So, there are a lot of O-27 train cars and engines that fit my definition of O-scale. Good examples from my collection include GP7 and F3 diesels and 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 steam switchers. Also, all of my ore cars are O-scale, but by their nature are rather short. Semi-scale equipment is not O-scale, but they are a lot of fun to operate. I typically would not intermix semi-scale pieces with their larger O-scale counterparts, because in my opinion it would look silly. However, I see many real-life examples of long and short freight cars next to each other on the same train.

I have sold off the majority of my "modern" (meaning "not Post-War") O-27 rolling stock. I have kept a number of engines and passenger cars though, and continue to collect Post-War pieces, which are typically semi-scale. Most of these pieces are part of the current roster. On Track 1, I'm running a short Post-War freight, headed by K-Line C&NW S2 diesel #2320. This diesel has dual motors, and is a mighty little brick. It has always been very reliable. That is, until now. I attached it to 4 short Post-War cars, and quickly noticed that it was consistently derailing on two sections of curved track. I deduced that there was a weight issue. The Post-War cars, short as they are, are almost entirely made of metal, and thus much heavier than the plastic cars this engine usually pulls. Furthermore, I had included the #3472 operating milk car in the bunch, which has a lot of machinery inside it, making it almost as heavy as the locomotive. I removed the milk car from the train, effectively reducing the draw bar strain, and this resolved the derailing problems. The weight of the heavy cars was pulling down on the rear powered truck of the S2, and the unfettered front powered truck had enough oomph to push the flanged wheels off the track. This probably wouldn't be a problem on larger-radius track, but Track 1 is all O-31, and it is almost entirely curves.

Track 2 is hosting IC Pacific #2099, 5 ore cars, and an unmarked Post-War work caboose. The IC steamer is another really reliable locomotive. It has no bells or whistles, except for the fake bell and whistle, and the real air whistle. It runs very smoothly, and has no problem pulling the relatively light train. In reality, loaded ore cars are among the heaviest cars on a train. This ore train has the added drama of an AEC car loaded with radioactive materials, which has been placed as far away from the engineer as possible! The unmarked caboose is a Lionel #6120. This variation has a hole in the roof for a smoke stack.

On Track 3 we have the IC City of New Orleans passenger train. I remember when my father bought this set in the early 90's and we displayed it on the floor of the family room as soon as we got home from the Wheaton, IL train show. Originally a 6-car set, Lionel released a dining car and a full vista dome car a few years later. The two Alco FA engines were manufactured by K-Line, as an alternative to the matching Lionel 2-6-2 steam locomotive. Like the K-Line S2 diesel, the lead FA unit has dual motors. The second FA unit was fitted with trucks that were power-ready, so a few years later we purchased a motor, gears, and an E-unit in order to energize the dummy. So, the set now has 3 motors instead of 2. Since this was a DIY project, and the second engine typically runs in reverse, it makes syncing the E-units a bit of a challenge. Thankfully, the lead FA unit can be locked into forward, so it just takes a few tries to get both engines running in the same direction. A quirk is that sometimes the former dummy unit switches into neutral randomly as it travels along Track 3, so the operator (me) has to pay pretty close attention to the movement and sounds of this train. The passenger cars are all fully lit and perform with excellence - it's really a sharp-looking train.

And the C&NW Pacific-powered Rockfordian is running on Track 4. This was the first full train set I purchased myself in the mid 90's. It's a pleasure to run this train in my own house for the first time. The steamer is noisy and has only moderate pulling power, but the feel of its metal and the smell of its running motor and drivers produces a feeling of magic that can't be beat. This was the first steam locomotive model I purchased, and I still remember getting it in the second hall of the Wheaton train show (now called the "Great Midwest Train Show"). I had to pay for it and the passenger cars over two separate visits. On the subject of the passenger cars, these are sometimes called "baby madison cars" due to their small size. I call them "semi-scale heavyweight cars", and they've had an interesting history in my employ. Originally, our layout in Illinois had about a 6" rise, so the train had to go up and down all the time. The locomotive's Magne-traction feature helped a lot, but the cars required some modifications to run smoothly. I think I added some weights to keep them from wobbling or derailing as the track elevation changed. After a while, I abandoned the graduated inclines and changed the configuration of the train layout, and then this train had an easier time running on flat surfaces. The cars run well on Track 4; they just need some electrical work to get the lights to remain on consistently. I recall issues with bulbs and pickup wires that will need to be revisited. These cars have a funky way of sliding off the shell by depressing some hidden tabs. I believe there's a video online that shows the process to help take most of pain out of the endeavor. The Rockfordian name is a moniker of my own design; there never was a real passenger train called this.

All in all, setting up and running these trains is a delightful trip down memory lane, and I plan to keep all of these semi-scale goodies on the active-service list!

Last night I unpacked some new stock. This should be the last new stuff for a while, which is fine - I'll have plenty of things to keep me busy soon! Anyway, this shipment involved the completion of the Northern Range heavyweight set. Last month I ran a 4-car abbreviated version of this train, and I recently found some good deals on the final components of this train. Up to now, the Northern Range consisted of 6 scale heavyweight cars, 5 of which are Pullman coaches or sleepers, and 1 is a similarly-painted Santa Fe coach (Granite Canyon). I also added a head-end REA car to complete the look and carry some baggage. However, one REA car isn't enough to contain all of the baggage for 6 car-worths of passengers, so this week I added the Pullman Van Twiller combine, to provide more luggage space and some more seating. That brings the heavyweight count up to 7, which is where I'd like it to stay. So, naturally I purchased another heavyweight car - the Santa Fe Cafe Observation. Why? Well, the Granite Canyon had a lot of problems with trucks and electronics (see a previous blog post or two). I found the Cafe Observation for just $11 and decided it was worth it for the parts. Last night, I proceeded with the macabre task of swapping the chassis of the Granite Canyon for the chassis of the Cafe Observation. There were a few complications, but the operation was a success, and the Frankencoach Granite Canyon is... alive... Alive... ALIVE! I did take the time to reassemble the Cafe Observation, because that's just the kind of microferroequinologist that I am. It's still a striking-looking scale observation car, and might look great as somebody's decoration. I'll bring it with me to the NMRA show in Missoula next month and see if I can find a new home for it. Northern Range now consists of up to three head-end cars (two are waiting for new 3-rail trucks from Atlas), Pullman combine Van Twiller, Santa Fe coach Granite Canyon, Pullman coaches Willow Range, Willow Valley, and two Willow Rivers, and sleeper Highland Falls. That equates to a real-life train that's over 700 feet long. It will look exquisite on the train layout of the future!

The other item I received was a vehicle. It's an intricately detailed M35 Army cargo truck manufactured by Corgi, and it appears brand-new. It will show up in the town of Red Stone, the settlement closest to the military base, picking up some shipments at the freight depot. Until then, it will be stored safely in its box.

I'm expecting some train room visitors in the next week, so I'll provide a report next Thursday! Keep your rails shiny ~

The semi-scale roster

The IC-powered ore train

The Rockfordian

Van Twiller combine

Granite Canyon fully powered

And, my bride got to ride on a short train today!

I saw the (PostWar) Light

This week involved some Postwar searchlight car endeavors. Many years ago I received a PW Lionel #3620 Searchlight car, but it was missing the searchlight assembly. I found a reproduction unit at the monthly train show at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Illinois, and used it for many years. Earlier this year, the reproduction searchlight assembly got damaged (cracked). I recently found an original PW searchlight assembly online and had it shipped to Billings. The #3620 now has all original, functional parts for the first time in decades.

Last month I obtained a #6520 PW Lionel searchlight car at an estate sale. While the car has many good features, it also requires some work. One of the couplers is broken, it is missing the searchlight lens, and the wire running to the bulb is disconnected. This week I was able to replace the lens, and I attempted to re-solder the wire running to the bulb. After several attempts, I found this to not be worth the trouble. Next month I’ll be headed to western MT for a train show, and I’ll see if I can sell/trade the car there.

Also this week I received 5 new pieces of rolling stock. I purchased these scale cars online: K-Line ATSF Dynamite boxcar, K-Line Kraft Cheese reefer, K-Line Union 76 tank car, Lionel US Army tank car, and a Lionel Philadelphia Quartz tank car.

Next week there should be a few more new arrivals, which will be the last new modern stock for a while.

Until then, keep those rails shiny ~

An original searchlight housing (L) and the reproduction housing

Handle with care

For the cheese lovers

Orange and blue oil

Contents are classified

Off to make some sodium silicate!

More engines back in service

Over the past week, I was able to make some nice progress in train-land.

Northern Pacific Quirk

I tried running the NP 0-6-0 on a track by itself. Upon startup, the whistle began sounding non-stop automatically. Pushing the whistle or bell buttons on the transformer would not resolve this. I looked up solutions on the Internet, and after a few trials, I found a fix. MTH locomotives running Proto-Sounds 2.0 or 3.0 should not be the only thing on a track drawing power. Add a lighted car to the track (or wire an accessory that uses a lightbulb to the track), and the extra power usage somehow resolves the issue. So, all is well with the 0-6-0.

Southern Railroad Surprise

I opened up the SR F3 A unit to repair it, but found that it was working properly. Previously, it seemed like the rear motor was frozen up, putting a lot of pressure on the front motor. I checked the connections and confirmed that both motors were spinning merrily along, so I closed up the engine and deemed it ready for service. This #2356 locomotive is at least 60 years old.

Rock Island Return

I opened up the RI 4-8-4, and confirmed that the motor drive is not staying in contact with the main gear (slipping). I experimented with different motor angles and came up with a good one using some scrap pieces of cork. The cork worked well temporarily, but needed to be replaced with something safer and more permanent. The next day, I picked up some rubber erasers and cut them to fit the locomotive. The locomotive tested well with the new rubber spacers, so I re-affixed the shell.

I also got out more trains for the new roster and inventoried them.

Fancy new blue rubber spacers under the Rock Island 4-8-4 motor

This Northern is back in action. It is currently the 2nd-largest locomotive in the fleet.

RI 4-8-4 ready for service

Back from the Engine House

Three steam locomotives are back on the active roster list! C&NW 0-8-0, NP 0-6-0, and GN 2-8-2 have received computer repairs and have now been tested successfully here in Billings. The C&NW had a board literally burn out this past Christmas. The NP was not outputting any sounds at all. The sounds on the GN seemed to be out of sync with the wheel movement, and that movement was rather jerky. The engines were repaired by Xavier at Caboose Hobbies in Denver last month. The GN runs smoothly now, although the sounds are still a bit out of sync. Using a human emotion to describe the sounds, I'd say it sounds "insane". However, this doesn't prevent it from running, so if the sounds really bother me, I can just turn the volume down. Overall, I'm very happy to have these steamers running again!

NP 0-6-0 Switcher #1163 tested and ready to go

C&NW 0-8-0 Switcher #65 running on Track 3

GN 2-8-2 Mikado barrels along with a freight train in tow

Christmas Repairs

Merry Christmas readers!

Last Thursday I was running the CNW 0-8-0 around the Christmas tree at work, and soon discovered smoke coming out of the tender. I took the engine home and opened the tender. It had a very pungent smell of burnt electronics. I inspected the circuit board, but aside from one spark I couldn’t tell what the problem was. The engine will power up in neutral with smoke, whistle, and light effects, but it will not shift into forward or reverse. I contacted MTH service via email.

I also checked on the status of the NP 0-6-0 issue with MTH service, as they hadn’t responded for a month. They advised that the engine would have to be serviced professionally.

On a more successful note, I disassembled the #2035 steam locomotive and cleaned the motor and brushes. I also lubricated the gears, as they are much easier to access with the shell removed. It took over an hour to put it back together due to the rods and smoke puffing mechanism. I used a kitchen tie to force the tender’s rear coupler closed, as it kept opening randomly. The locomotive now runs (more) smoothly now. I also repositioned the electrical cables that were running under the Library tree track.

On Friday I brought CNW GP7 1518 to work to run under the tree, replacing the CNW 0-8-0 which is out of service (see above.)

On Tuesday I added Priority, Difficulty, and Cost columns to the "Engine House" (repair) spreadsheet. Currently, the two steam switchers (CNW & NP) are the top priority, and it may be less expensive to purchase new units instead of repairing, due to their age and the computer-related problems they are experiencing.

Other Engine House items for Q1 2016 include the Electroliner (get motors in sync, troubleshoot the speaker, and reattach the windows), the CSS Interurban (adjust cowcatcher), the RI Denver Rocket (oil the squeaky wheels), the PW Searchlight Car (replace the non-original light housing). the PW #2037 locomotive (return it to operational status), and the two REA Baggage Cars (install 3-rail trucks).

I hope you have a wonderful celebration of Christmas, and keep those rails silvery shiny!

Interior of the MTH 0-8-0 tender

Interior of the 65-year-old #2035

The Lionel Repair Guide has specific schematics for most Post War trains, including #2035

#2035’s motor and brushes prior to cleaning

CNW GP7 #1518 takes the stage under the Christmas tree at my office

Total Re-org and CMRM Part 1

Howdy readers – today’s long post details a lot of work done in the Train Room over the past few days, and Part 1 of my visit to the CMRM.

I devoted nearly 12 hours to the Train Room this week, and while most of the changes will be invisible to guests, it was an extremely fruitful week! I’ll start with the layout…

I set up the CTA 4-car “L” set on Track 3. From reading the manual, I decided to try out a fun feature that allows me to program the train to stop automatically at a set of stations that I decide. To program the train, I use the “whistle/horn” and “bell” buttons on the transformer. However, the Lionel ZW transformer I’ve been using to power the set since March 2014 is about 70 years old and doesn’t have these buttons. A ZW transformer has a whistle lever, but this doesn’t work that well for programming purposes. To get around this, Lionel manufactured separate buttons that can be wired between the transformer and the track to provide whistle/horn and bell functionality to any transformer. I had been using these separate buttons, but there are a few drawbacks. One, a ZW controls four trains, meaning I would need 8 buttons (4 trains x 2 buttons each) to get full sound capabilities on each track. Two, these buttons are about $20 each, and I have 3, so it would be kind of expensive to get an entire set for a ZW transformer. Three, I use some rather beefy 10 or 12 gauge wire to power the layout, but these buttons use tiny 18 gauge wire, so when the buttons are used, the power flow is decreased significantly. Four, since bringing the remainder of the collection back from Illinois, I now have my full complement of transformers available to me, some of which have built-in whistle/horn and bell functionality.

So, I decided to make a big change in the layout power supply configuration. I swapped out the 250W Lionel ZW transformer with two 270W MRC transformers. This improves things significantly, and solves the whole whistle/horn and bell button issue. It also means that 2 tracks get to share 270W instead of 4 tracks sharing 250W, so train performance will improve overall. The MRC transformers are controlled by wired remotes. These remotes provide some handy added functionality as well – they have a “brake” button that smoothly slows down the train, and a “stop” button to be used in case of a problem that immediately kills power to both tracks. While I prefer operating a ZW to a wired remote, I am so far pleased with the results.

Anyway, back to the “L” cars… After hooking up the MRC transformers, I began programming the CTA set to stop at specific spots on the track and announce specific stations in an order of my choosing. I followed the manual, and after several attempts I got the train programmed. Even with buttons for the horn and bell functions, it is difficult to get the timing just right. When the train is running, I can send it a command to enter “auto mode”, and it will run and stop indefinitely without any prompting from me. It’s a neat feature for an “L” train!

I set up The Canadian on Track 4, which consists of 3 F3 locomotives and 6 streamlined passenger cars. For more details on this train, please see my December 5, 2013 blog post. This is the first time I’ve run this set in Montana, and it looks really sharp. And now I can operate the horn and bell a lot more effectively with the MRC transformer.

I ran all four trains and found that the extra-long CNW Trainmaster will bump trains on Track 3 when it is rolling on Track 2. So, I’ll just run 3 trains at a time, which is fine and slightly less noisy. Also, I discovered that CP Coach 111 has a low magnet on one of its couplers that occasionally strikes a track joint on the west side of Track 4, which needs some fixing. Later in the week, I opened up CP Coach 111 to check for problems with the truck. While I didn’t see any problems, I was pleasantly surprised by the car’s construction. I’ve never had need to open one of MTH’s passenger cars, but they are well built, especially compared to earlier car designs from other manufacturers. I ran the car with the low magnet at the rear and didn’t have any problems after 10 loops.

In preparation for the Christmas season, I set up the O-scale nativity set that my wife gave me. It looks pretty good with some rocks in the background. It is a neat feature that helps us remember what Christmas is all about!

Also in “above layout” news, I’ve hung up two more artifacts: a PRR can and an MRL crossing post license. I’ve also had some correspondence with the MTH Service Dept regarding the NP 0-6-0 sound problem. I also gave the room a good dusting. Last night I vacuumed the floor and some surfaces.

Now for “under layout” news… I spent a lot of Saturday sorting and organizing all of the non-train tubs. Meaning, the scenery, figures, vehicles, track, transformers, accessories, buildings, electronics, non-O-gauge trains, and a plethora of other items were removed and then replaced into new homes for storage. I found a few things I had been missing, and threw out some un-needed boxes and miscellany. Another big project was the completion of my “every train needs a box” initiative, which started and ended on Saturday. I have four specially designed padded corrugated boxes made for storing/transporting O gauge trains. These boxes now contain all of my trains that don’t have their original box anymore, and each box has a category: Post War Engines, Post War Freight, Modern Engines, and Modern Rolling Stock. After sorting everything, I reorganized the under-table area and the locomotive closet. The under-table area is now in a “U”-shaped storage formation, with the tubs/boxes that I access most often in front and on top. The tubs at the bottom of the locomotive closet contain items that I most likely will not need to access until the layout of the future is being built.

To help keep track of which “train box” contains which train, I’ve added a Location column to my inventory spreadsheet, so I can quickly see where a train is located in the train room. For example, if the field shows “TB1”, then I know that it is located in “Train Box 1”.


And now, back to Colorado...

On the second Saturday of our trip, my wife attended a shopping event in Loveland, CO, and I headed to Greeley. The Colorado Model Railroad Museum is located there in a 15,000 sqft steel building. I had a delightful visit! The museum contains a very large HO layout, a Thomas-themed O gauge layout, a wooden trainset for little kids, a real caboose, a Lionel collection, a large collection of railroadania, and a gift shop. I was there for about 3 hours, but easily could have spent the entire day. There were folks of all ages there to visit, and there were over a dozen staff members or volunteers onsite as well. I took a lot of pictures and video, and got some good ideas for layout details, as well as building construction ideas. I also purchased a Lionel Yule Marble flat car to commemorate the trip, and serve as a birthday present to myself in a few months J

The full-size caboose is a restored Colorado & Southern (CB&Q) rear-cupola wooden model. It sits on rails and ties inside the building. The interior is open for inspection, and is fully outfitted with authentic, period details (including the linens on the bed).

The O gauge layout, although rather small, is very impressive. It is basically a maze of interconnected track loops, and is covered with modern and historic operating accessories. There are 6 trains on the track, which consist of a Thomas-style locomotive and a caboose. There are buttons all around the perimeter of the layout which activate the multitude of accessories, and control the whistle sounds on the locomotives as well. The most impressive part of the layout is the control system, which is housed in a large set of processors on the wall. The system insures that the trains do not run into each other using a rather complicated set of blocking. The trains also run very fast, so they look sort of like a swarm of bees zipping in every direction when in motion.

The Lionel collection consists of about 200 Post War pieces in a glass display case. They also have some Post War transformers, accessories, and advertising on display.

The railroadania collection is spread throughout the entire facility, and consists of nearly 1,000 artifacts ranging from full-size semaphores to vintage time schedules. If time allowed, I would have spent more time studying these items. Highlights include a collection of 40 Pullman seat cloths from various railroads, over 100 time schedules from various railroads in a custom-built wooden rack, which visitors can read, railroad signage and uniforms, one of the most complete railroad lantern collections I’ve ever seen, 100’s of railroad switch keys in a glass case, and a pair of seats from a MRR Olympian Hiawatha passenger car. Wow!

The gift shop had mostly touristy items. However, there were a few custom model railroad cars for sale (including the Yule Marble car I purchased), and several DVD’s produced in house about layout construction and scenery. These looked pretty interesting!

But, the unopposed star of the museum is the massive HO layout, which I will talk about next week in the Thanksgiving post! Until then, have a jolly time, and keep all of your rails shiny ~

The November-December Roster: MKT NW2 Grain Train, CNW Trainmaster Fast Reefer Freight, CTA 6200-series “L” cars, CP F3 ABA The Canadian

The Canadian

CNW reefer freight

The CTA 6200-series set

PRR can

Under-layout view

Train box for PW Freight cars

The model railroad nativity set

Lionel display at the CMRM

Passenger car towel display at the CMRM

Railroad time tables display at the CMRM

Part of the railroad lantern collection at the CMRM

O gauge layout at the CMRM, notice the control system on the wall

C&S caboose inside the CMRM

MPC Diesels and Front Range Curves

Welcome back to rail-land ~

This was a fruitful week in the Train Room. I also did some more planning for future expansion. And, I’ve detailed some more of my train adventures from our trip to Denver last month.

In the Train Room, I used the voltmeter to measure the ohm resistance in the speaker on the NP 0-6-0. The measurement showed approximately 16 ohms, which is exactly what a healthy speaker should show. According to MTH’s ProtoSounds 2.0 troubleshooting guide, either the chip needs to be reprogrammed, or the board needs to be replaced! Bleh! I emailed the MTH Customer Service team to see if they could provide any other insight.

To begin prepping for the Christmas season, I’ve put away the current projects, and will take them out again next year. So, the NP 0-6-0 and Electroliner were reassembled and stored safely in their boxes, and the rest of the roster was stored as well (The Bozeman Zephyr, CSS Interurbans, the NP freight train, and the UP Postwar train). While storing the Postwar searchlight car, the light housing fell and cracked. Thankfully, this was already a replacement housing, and more replacements are readily available. I’ve added this to the Engine House spreadsheet. As I put these trains away, I also inventoried them in the spreadsheet.

On Sunday, I got out all of the trains for the Nov/Dec roster. I also did some general straightening of the room, and changed all of the calendars to November. On Monday, I set up Track 1 with the MKT NW2 leading 4 CNW ore (grain) cars and an MKT caboose. The MKT engine is the first diesel locomotive we had on our train set when I was a kid. My father bought it at the Brass Whistle train store in Rockford, IL. For many years, this was the "ol' reliable" engine for moving freight. I also moved the portable fireplace, and in its place stacked 3 tubs of trains. On Tuesday I did some rearranging under the train table, to place frequently accessed tubs on top of infrequently accessed ones. I also set up Track 2 with the CNW Trainmaster pulling 5 reefers (MRR, GN, CNW, Dairy Men’s, NP) and a CNW caboose. I also lubricated the MKT NW2 and CNW Trainmaster. Both of these diesels were manufactured by “Lionel” during the 1970-1986 “MPC” era. MPC (Model Products Corporation) was a subsidiary of General Mills, and owned the Lionel rights during this time. These engines are 35-40 years old, and after some lubricating, they are running very well! As I set up these trains, I also inventoried them in the spreadsheet.

I also had fun planning out some options for the train building of the future. After dealing with a lot of boxing and unboxing trains recently, I’d like to one day have all of the trains on display or running on the layout. This means that I have to plan for sufficient wall/shelving space in the new building, so I did some preliminary calculating and wall-layout planning.

So, back to my Denver train-doings… On the Thursday of our trip, after dropping my bride off at training for the day, I drove north of Golden on Highway 93, and turned left towards the mountains on Highway 72. After two miles, I turned into a residential area on Blue Mountain Drive. This road took me to the top of a foothill, and I had views facing east towards Denver. I parked along the side of the road, and walked over to the edge of the hill. I was able to tracks below me, which traveled through a variety of curves. I arrived just in time to photograph and film a BNSF EB mixed freight coming down the mountains and entering the curves. Like the BNSF trains that travel through Billings, this one had engines on the front end and a few more at the back. It took it about 10 minutes to navigate the wandering track path, and I was able to view it the whole time. A few moments after the BNSF cleared, a waiting UP WB mixed freight powered up and began climbing the hill. The UP was headed by 5 locomotives, and had 1 helper locomotive located in the middle of the train. I watched the train wrap around itself as it continued up the hill. While watching the trains, a local resident came by as she was walking her dogs. She didn’t seem too surprised to see a railfan here, and she provided some interesting information about the curve the trains were traveling through below. Along the eastern side of the curve, on the west side of the track, a string of hopper cars were buried in the ground and filled with dirt. Trees were planted behind them. The trees and buried cars create a type of snow/wind fence, as this curve is in the direct path of any inclement weather coming off the mountains. The buried cars are somewhat visible from Highway 72. After the UP train went out of sight, I drove down the mountain road and met the train at the crossing. It continued through another curve around Coal Creek Peak while I headed back east. After another hour or two of climbing and curving, the train would arrive at the Moffat Tunnel and traverse the Continental Divide.

Meanwhile, I went back to Golden and drove through the Coors Brewery/Manufacturing plant. I drove through the entire facility and saw many interesting rail operations and equipment used at the beer-producing plant. Coors has their own fleet of locomotives, and a lot of freight cars get shuffled about all day long. There are also semi-frequent BNSF trains making deliveries to the plant. After returning to Lakewood, I visited Jenny’s Junk Emporium, which is a consignment shop that specializes in railroad and model railroad items. They had a lot of railroad artifacts and media, and trains of all scales, including quite a few G-Scale items. The prices were rather restrictive, so I just enjoyed looking. So, this was another fun morning of train-related activities! Next week I’ll conclude with a review of my visit to the Colorado Model Railroad Museum.

My Train goals for the coming week are: setup/inventory/lubricate trains on Tracks 3 & 4, finish reorganizing the tubs under the table, repack the “Train Boxes”, and make sure ALL of the tubs are labeled.

Until then, enjoy some more photos, and keep those rails shiny ~

BNSF train headed down the hill through the S curve

UP train headed up the hill towards the curves

UP train approaching the buried hopper cars

The mid-train helper engine

The UP WB train continues past Coal Creek Peak

Coors locomotive C997 awaiting orders

Another Coors engine parked in a siding

An intricate layout of tracks supporting the Coors plant

Testing the NP 0-6-0 speaker with a voltmeter

The MKT NW2 and the CNW Trainmaster pull their consists around Tracks 1 and 2

The first diesel train I ever operated (back in the 1980's)